Conventionally, there are a number of ecology-conscious techniques for image forming apparatuses aimed at energy saving and resource saving.
Among these techniques, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-52630 discloses an energy-saving image forming apparatus as prior art related to energy saving and operability.
The conventional art has proposed a double-sided printing function and reduction layout function, in which plural pages of original documents are reduced and printed in one page, e.g., 2-in-1 (two pages of original documents are printed in one page), 4-in-1 (four pages of original documents are printed in one page) and so forth.
However, these conventional ecology-oriented functions are often introduced as one of the output functions of an image forming apparatus, and operation buttons for these functions are often scattered in a control panel. Moreover, since operation screens are deeply layered, users often do not know the availability of such functions, or cannot efficiently make use of the functions even if they know the availability of the functions, because of the complicated setting of the functions.
Furthermore, in addition to the double-sided printing function and reduction layout function, an image reduction function for outputting print paper having a size smaller than an original document's size (e.g., reducing A3-size paper to A4-size paper) may be regarded as an energy-saving/resource-saving technique. However, such function is often buried in layers of a single function such as a zoom function or reduction function, and is not efficiently utilized in many cases.
Moreover, conventional image forming apparatuses do not provide an operation interface that raises user's energy-saving/resource-saving awareness. For this reason, it has been difficult to induce users to perform operation that positively leads to energy saving/resources saving.
Furthermore, in the conventional image forming apparatuses, it is difficult for users to visually confirm how much energy-saving/resource-saving effects are achieved.
Still further, even in a case an image forming apparatus has the above-described double-sided printing function or reduction layout function, users often do not know how to set the energy-saving/resource-saving functions unless they thoroughly read a manual.